Eldergays, tell me about Ann-Margret

Miley Cyrus

She wouldn't have an equivalent today, because she didn't kiss and tell.

Justin Bieber

I'm 43 so she was before my time but I'll attempt an earnest response. I'll say ScaJo, buxom beautiful redhead, sex symbol, perceived as (relatively) wholesome, medium talent.

I'm still here, bitches!

R4, you almost described Nick Jonas.

[quote]I'm 43 so she was before my time

?????

She was still starring in movies and TV shows well into your teens and 20s.

no r1, more recently. It was some show about people with careers they were ashamed to tell their family and friends about.

She was Pebble's babysitter.

She's Lindsay Lohan + Britney Spears + Emma Stone - Dina Lohan - Samantha Ronson.

Candis Cayne

op is a tired twentysomething who keeps trying to make elder gay happen… *yawn*

Britney Spears--girl-next-door persona combined with overtly sexual musical performances--is an ancestress of Ann-Margret. Likewise, Madonna's Vegas-y bump and grind concert style owes a lot to AM.

I would say her fame was like Jlo. She did some good flicks and was big act in Vegas. Plus she had tv specials.

[quote]Britney Spears--girl-next-door persona combined with overtly sexual musical performances--is an ancestress of Ann-Margret.

I like r14's Jlo comparison better.

And I know I misused "ancestress." I'm jumping out the window of my house right now.

This made me realize that most quality dicks still belong to the pussy after all.

Is that like architectress?

Lohan was supposed to be the Ann Margret of this generation, but that didn't work out.

Ann was actually a damn good actress, so that really leaves out people like J Lo and Britney Spears. Scar Jo isn't a bad comparison, though. She handled herself rather well in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and lord knows she has the sex appeal. I believe she sings a little, too.

I always kinda thought Emma Stone was like Ann Margret crossed with Barbara Harris.

I'll tell you about Ann-Margret, an amazingly beautiful, intelligent and talented woman who begins her career as a sexy ingenue, then becomes a sex kitten, then a night club performer, then a very serious and well respected, if undervalued, film actress (with some extremely important tv performances)....

Now that you have the facts, you can decide who, IF ANYONE, matches her among young women in the entertainment business.

For what it's worth, like JLo, she's bilingual (Swedish).

I can remember my parent having a party with a group of friends over to watch the double bill of Ann-Margret in concert followed by Elvis in concert.

Ann-Margret was that big! As sexually overt as she was I know that my Mom always thought of her as a "nice" girl.

She had it all and still does I might add.

The girls today are a dime a dozen.

You never discuss Ann-Margret as in a group of her peers because she was and is an original.

R20, JLo isn't truly bilingual since she's not fluent in Spanish.

R7, I was in my teens and twenties in 80s and 90s, well after A-M's ingenue heyday. Grumpy Old Men does not count , k?

I can't describe what was so special about her, but I could demonstrate.

That's the thing. Ann was unique. The girls today mostly aren't. Everyone's either emo and depressed like Kristen Stewart and Rooney Mara or slutty/psycho/troubled like Lohan, Cyrus, and Bynes.

Ann was always sexy, but wholesome. I can't see any of these girls turning in a performance like Tommy, Carnal Knowledge, or her Streetcar Named Desire - which, btw, is actually very good. Maybe Jennifer Lawrence has the talent, but her personality is so different from Ann's.

No one has that sexy/meek/fun loving spirit than Ann seemed to have.

Was she supposed to be The New Marilyn? Her movie career was underwhelming.

Well, "younger gay" or would you rather "childish gay", or perhaps "not quite out of the fetus position gay"...

Ann Margret was the type of celebrity that your type of younger, childish, fetus gay would love to attack for hours upon hours in order to make yourself even less important than you seem to think you are already.

I wouldn't dare to list the characteristics or attributes which made her a star of the first magnitude in her days. You wouldn't understand....too young!

Idiot! Ann-Margret HAS no equivalent today!

And the next time I see some fangirl or nelly queen refer to her as "Ann" without the slightest realization that she's like one of those "one name girls" like Cher,Vanity,Madonna...

Prince.

Except her first and middle have been combined as one...her full name being ANN-MARGRET OLSSON and bitches she is FLAWLESS!

In this clip you can just can TASTE how much Dean Paul Martin wanted to sample some of Ann-Margret's MILF and cookies.

So since I am almost 54 - I guess I am an elder gay - and that gives me the right to voice my opinion. As a young guy boy who lived in the country, watching the Mike Douglas show, or Hollywood Palace, and any number of other shows you younger gays wouldn't understand - Ann-Margaret - and that is what she should and always be referred as - was a very bright light. She is and will always be beautiful, but more importanly she is an extremely competent actress. Maybe not a huge catalouge of films, but she was terrific in the majority of them. Sometime watch Magic with Anthony Hopkins, or her portrayl of Blanche in Streetcar, this woman is very talented and versatile.

So for us elder gays, I have a question. When she had her accident in Las Vegas and had, what everyone said her face "rebuilt" did her looks change? I really never noticed a big difference. And has that reconstruction been the reason why she has aged so well? BTW check out youtube Broadway and Beyond video from last fall - the woman is a jewel .

OK thanks for my soapbox and allowing me my tirade.

Priscilla, when informed that Ann-Margret and Elvis fell in love with each other on the set of "Viva Las Vagas", flew into town and claimed her man back.

Ann-Margret is no dummy. I think she was smart enough to see that, although Elvis was fling material, even then , in his prime, it was obvious he had, shall we say, "issues."

She had no problem, therefore telling Priscilla something to the effect of, "Thanks for the loan. Here; you can have him back."

I admire Ann-Margret as a talent and for her discretion.

I love Ann. I'm in my 20's, but I guess I was raised right and grew up on her films. She really is a ray of light. Even to this day, she's impossibly beautiful. I wish she'd do more films, but she seems perfectly content with staying out of the limelight, which is kinda refreshing in these days of non-stop fame whoring.

[quote]then a very serious and well respected, if undervalued, film actress (with some extremely important tv performances)....

Don't forget the two Academy Award nominations for two completely different films, one a heavy drama and another for a musical.

Ann-Margrock!

Very underrated....

Lovely, beautiful, and sensitive woman. Her autobiography was a MAJOR SNORE though.

Love her anyway! An original. I thought that she was seriously underrated in 52 Pick Up from 1986

I don't know her work very well but she was/is captivating. Just watch this video in the link. Subtle but captivating movements. I also loved her drama movie and theater work that she has done too.

The thing about Ann-Margret is that she could do everything asked of her on screen AND she had that thing that cannot be taught. Star Quality. She has an enormous amount of it, whatever it is. And she is extremely photogenic.

She's also very smart. She could not have navigated that shitty business as well as she has, and for as long as she has, without considerable intelligence.

She is a favorite.

Sings, dances and acts. A genuinely good and caring person. She has aged so gracefully and beautifully.

[quote]The thing about Ann-Margret is that she could do everything asked of her on screen AND she had that thing that cannot be taught. Star Quality.

You're right, R38. From your clip, all of the dancers are doing the same move. They're all smiling. But, there's something about Ann. She's doing it better and your eyes are just drawn to her.

R30 I wish there was some sort of photographic evidence (or even a re-enactment for God's sake) of that onstage fall she had in the early 70s. Even in her auto bio she only describes it.

And yes R36 i love AM too but her autobio was decidedly not that deep. Most chapters described major events in her life and by the end of each it's wrapped up with a pretty pink bow. AM on Elvis: "I just loved cruising the streets of LA with him! We went all over town!"

And maybe it's a Swedish thing, but she still calls her parents Mommy and Daddy.

Was terribly disappointed when she lost best actress for Tommy in 1976. I was in high school and loved the movie.

Her whole sex kitten image was/is just a ruse. She's thought to be one of the nicest, most sincere people in Hollywood.

Lindsay!

Agree with r21’s mom. She’s super sexy but she’s not a ho.

She's just got it. You can't explain it. But, she has it. Even with her dramatic roles.

When she was younger she had nothing but crappy material to work with. Then came Carnal Knowledge and Tommy and suddenly she was a real actress. AM has star quality and when she's onscreen you cannot take your eyes off her. And, I've never read a bad thing about her personally.

Amy Adams is playing her in ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD. Tarantino’s new film

Her website is delightfully 2002.

When Ann-Margret was signed to a seven-picture contract with 20th Century Fox in 1961, she was being touted as the next big star. A sex kitten along the same lines as France's Brigitte Bardot, who could sing and dance and rock out with the King. But months later Fox would be reeling from the colossal cost overruns of "Cleopatra," and Annie and other contract players would be farmed out to rival studios in exchange for much needed cash. But the Cleopatra bleeding wouldn't stop and in a few years, all the Fox contract players would be shown the door. So without the studio push, Ann's film career wouldn't reach full potential.

Also, she was cast in bad films like "Kitten with a Whip" and "The Pleasure Seekers," which were Hollywood attempts to be adult and daring like the European films of the day, but ended being formulaic and puerile.

I love these thread on the DL

Does anyone know why she never had children of her own?

She should have played "Mame". She also should have been on Broadway. Michael Bennett wanted to do "Love Me or Leave Me" with A-M and what a show that would have been.

I was reading more on A-M. After exiting 20th Century Fox circa 1963, she signed with a dozen other studios for short term deals, including Fox around 1965-66. So apparently, Fox recouped their Cleopatra losses with their biggest moneymaker yet, The Sound of Music. But still, Ann was in one flop after another, and very quickly she was no longer hot property.

Also, the times were a-changing. A-M's brand of wholesome, song-and-dance entertainment had become passé by the mid to late '60s and bolder, were overt sex symbols (e.g. Raquel Welch) had taken her place. By the early '70s, A-M was doing Vegas and televison variety shows before once again hitting her stride with Carnal Knowledge and Tommy.

R52, A-M was never considered wholesome song and dance entertainment and I think it's absurd to considered Raquel Welch to be bolder, more overt sex symbols than A-M. Her first appearance in BBB where she squeezed her boobs with her arms and had close-ups of her butt while doing the twist can't get any more overt.

Kylie Minogue used Ann-Margret as a template (along with Jane's Barbarella) when she wanted to cast off her goody-two-shoes image and sex up her persona in a non-threatening way.

As a kid in the 60s, I thought her last name was Margret.

Didn’t Annie audition for Mrs. Irene Molloy in Streisand’s HELLO DOLLY?

Didn't she get into a accident (car?) that ruined her nose? The plastic surgeon's best efforts to fix it made her look a little more common.

For starters she ain't gonna be your fool no more.

Kristen Wiig.

R57 - no it wasn’t a car accident, and it wasn’t her nose. She was on stage in Vegas standing up on this elevated prop which collapsed, and she crashed down on her jaw.

Ann-Margret is in a league of her own. Talented, sexy, smart, iconic; at first viewed as a sex kitten because that was her. But she grew into an entertainer larger than life and then into a great serious actress. You cannot compare Ann-Margret to anyone today. She was a Hollywood superstar. She was on par with The Rat Pack as a Vegas superstar. In the early days, she wasn't always the most talented, but she was the most memorable. She was spectacular in the rock opera "Tommy," and she was a brilliant actress in "Carnal Knowledge" for which she received well-deserved critical acclaim with a Golden Globe Award and Academy Award nomination.

Ann-Margret also was outstanding in the 1980s made-for-television movies: Who Will Love My Children, A Streetcar Named Desire and The Two Mrs. Grenvilles. Ann-Margret is an original. They don't make stars like Ann-Margret any longer. Different era; stars were bigger then.

My father loved Ann-Margret because she was so sexy. My mother loved Ann-Margret because was so sexy and a great entertainer. As a gayling, I loved Ann-Margret because she was so sexy and talented and she was a big star. And gays--even young ones way back when--knew star quality when we saw it. Ann-Margret was a big Hollywood star and everyone knew it. At the time, her star was as bright as Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr.

Ann-Margret was one of the last of the good ol' broads. She was that kind of star. And the bonus is, once she started acting in projects that had some substance, she proved to be a great actress. Maybe not as big, maybe not as polished and trained, but she became one of the best in her day. And now she has the well-deserved status of a living legend.

Ann-Margret should star in a big movie with Jane Fonda, Sally Field, Helen Mirren, Barbra Streisand, Goldie Hawn, etc. Ann-Margret is up there with grand dames of Hollywood.

Ann-Margret was married only once, 1967-2017, for 50 years to Roger Smith until his death. Rather unique in Hollywood.

It's time for Ann-Margret to work again. The public would welcome the chance to see her in a great role on the big screen or on television. And she's gorgeous on top of everything.

I hear each and every day of the week, she can't eat her supper nor can she sleep. That's how I started out.

I watched a rerun of a Swedish documentary about her, from the 90's. She was interviewed in her home in California, worked out at home with a trainer, talked to her husband, went back to the north of Sweden to visit cousins. She spoke Swedish, but with an American accent and had trouble to find the right words sometimes, understandably since she left the country at five. I didn't know too much about her before I saw the documentary - I think she is a bigger star in the USA than in her old country - but she came across as very grounded, humble and down to earth and downplayed her own achievements. Typical Swede.

I always wished that she and Angie Dickinson would have done a tastefully done nude pictorial together.

her nymphomaniacal performance in Tommy, showed what a drunken drug fueled divine kitten she is.

HUZZA

R64, A-M is happily retired and has no interest in showing the public how she's aged. She did a couple of nightclub acts in Vegas (at the off strip Orleans for example) maybe a decade ago as well as "Whorehouse" before that and it was reported she had trouble with her lines.

Also a very good friend of Tina Turner. She helped her out a great deal when Tina left Ike.

Lohan is a Mediterranean yacht girl. aka high-end call girl.

She could do BOTH Blanche DuBois.....AND Ruby!

r60 Tahoe, not Vegas.

That's TWO time Oscar nominated Ann-Margret. How many do ScarJo, JLo, Miley, etc. have? crickets.

She doesn't have her curves but, in terms of Likeability, Emma Stone might come closest. A very 2010s version, granted.,

Stop stealing my fuckin' numbers!!!

She ain't got nobody....

Bet Davis? BET Davis???

R14 I would say her fame was like Jlo. She did some good flicks and was big act in Vegas. Plus she had tv specials.

—Cardinal knowledge was her best

Did she spend a lot of time in the St. Louis clubhouse?

She was not intelligent. Her husband, Roger Smith, was also her manager. There is evidence that his refusal to pay protection money to the Mob caused the terrible accident. Ann-Margret somehow fell off a fifty foot tower, landing on her face. It was a Mob hit.

She really is one of a kind. Her career is rather enviable actually. To go from fresh-faced sex kitten, to Vegas shows, to acclaimed feature films, to wonderful TV movies - she's really done it all. Come to think of it, why has she never played Carlotta in Follies? Her I'm Still Here would be great.

I do think Emma Stone has probably come the closest to capturing that charm and talent. I'm always interested to see what she'll do next. And to the person who compared Stone to a mix of Ann-Margret and Barbara Harris - YES! I can totally see that. And what a wonderful mix that is.

[quote] —Cardinal knowledge was her best Did she spend a lot of time in the St. Louis clubhouse?

No -- the Vatican.

R50 I saw an interview with her years ago, she said something like God never sent her a baby, it just never happened, but Roger had kids she adored.

In the old Rona Barrett TV interviews, she had A-M on with Cher, Liza and Raquel Welch. In that interview, she said that she really never had time to have kids but if her husband wished that they had a baby, that would be it.

I also think A-M didn't have a baby for the conventional Hollywood rationale. She thought it would wreck her figure.

No one today compares to her. The Viva Las Vegas clips alone show that and that opening credits of Bye Bye Birdie are standouts. Crazy talented and a good person it would seem. R30 I agree with everything you said. I always thought she looked even better after the accident. Maybe we just noticed the maturity of her face more. She had always been that pretty young sex pot but she became a sexy woman.

I find it interesting that no one really mentions her OSCAR nominated performance for "Tommy". I've never heard any stories about how she got that role in the first place. Ann Margret is someone I would have NEVER thought of casting.

What more do you need to know?

She was sexy in a way that wasn’t threatening to other women. Very unusual quality.

In his autobiography, Bruce Dern talked about a sex scene he had with Ann-Margret in a movie called Middle-Age Crazy. He said he got into the bed and suddenly realized that Ann-Margret was completely naked. Dern was wearing underwear and she said "take off those goddam underwear." I guess she wasn't shy.

I'm not a fan of Elvis movies, but I do like Viva Las Vegas... only because of Ann-Margret. You can't keep your eyes off of her. She upstaged Elvis.

Gorgeous and blond Ann-Margret gets with the pleasure seekers. Like LIVE!

I'd love somebody to write a real biography of her - she so reserved but I feel like there's something strange going on with her. I knew a Dutch guy who said all the Swedes he had known were loco. Stupid thing to say, I thought, but when I think about it, Greta Garbo was weird as hell, Inger Stevens committed suicide, Ingmar Bergman and his melancholia or bipolar or religious obsessions, I guess Ingrid Bergman was ok but orphaned at 3 or 4 years old so I could understand her having issues - oh and Bjorn Borg's attempted suicide when his Italian ho-gf dumped him. Was Jean Seberg Swedish? Well, she committed suicide and reminds me of the others.

Maybe there's something to my Dutch friend's observation. He had a Swedish roommate who refused to eat if he missed the exact timing of the meal - so if 8am went by, he couldn't eat breakfast at 9 -- he had to wait till lunch at 1, and if he missed that, it was dinner at 7 (or not at all.) Anyway I know that's a stupid anecdote but country's can have weirdness that sui generis - god knows USA does.

Roger has some kind of issues too - alcoholism? chronic illness? I can't remember but seems like they were coping with some sort of big problem, as a couple, related to him. It's weird enough that they stayed together in this business.

Sorry to ramble. Maybe she's just as simple as a wholesome farm girl but somehow I think there was something weird - something dark - going on with her - maybe some kind of mental illness she managed to hide - or substance abuse (thus the fall)?

Her husband, Roger Smith, died last year at age 84. He and Ann-Margret were married since 1967...50 years. He had myasthenia gravis (sp).. a neuromuscular disease. He was in 77 Sunset Strip in the 60s.

[quote]Roger has some kind of issues too - alcoholism? chronic illness? I can't remember but seems like they were coping with some sort of big problem, as a couple, related to him. It's weird enough that they stayed together in this business.

HAD. He had myasthenia gravis. He died last year. I've told my story here before but will repeat it. Ann-Margret was touring in "Whorehouse" and was in my city for two weeks while they worked on the show. I was employed at the hotel where she and Roger stayed. I was appointed to take care of whatever they needed. I had the opportunity to work with both of them a lot. He was a very nice man. Ann-Margret was a delightful person, very very kind. We had several conversations and she always seemed very interested in what I had to say. She seemed humble and was always grateful for whatever I did for them. I still get a Christmas card from her and my experience with her was 17 years ago.

Nice story R93..

R93, that's nice. I think she's been a good friend to the LGB community. She was deservedly Emmy-nominated for "Who Will Love My Children," and Stanwyck, who won, acknowledged her when accepting the award.

[quote] maybe some kind of mental illness she managed to hide - or substance abuse (thus the fall)?

She has talked in the past about her struggles with major depression and alcoholism.

One of my favorite Christmas songs is AM’s Baby It’s Cold Outside; she manages to turn the tables on the date rapey context.

Also the last time I had a crush on a female was for Ann-Margrock when I was 9 years old.

I think she also did a good "What Are You Doing New Year s Eve."

Ann- Margaret is perfection. That why Elvis loved her. She knew her talents and used them. And then changed the way we saw her by becoming an excellent actresses. Barbara Stanwyck noticed it and Tennessee Williams begged her to do “ Streetcar”. She was excellent in “ Who will love my Children” and she has never had a nasty remark made about her. A unique sex kitten, a sexy dancer, a good singer, an appealing interesting actress. Ryan Murray should find a project for her. I will love her till the day I die. Such a good person in a business that usually produces shit people after shit people. To rise above that takes a special person.

I do wish someone like Ryan Murphy would give her a role. Maybe she just doesn't want to work as much these days, but she still looks great and seems spry. She would probably fit into Murphy's weird American Horror Story universe.

"your eyes are just drawn to her"

R40, it's the pussy-pink catsuit. I always sort of liked her (true elder gay here) but she wasn't my favorite. There is obvious talent, but she always pushed just a liiiitle too hard. The sort of personality that Andrea Martin skewered so brilliantly in SCTV.

Still, there's only one Ann-Margret, and she was miles ahead of the Lolas and Leslies of the business.

R1 deserves a lengthy beating.

In all these years I have never heard anyone say a bad word about Ann-Margret, not one. For Hollywood that is unheard of and usually impossible to achieve. She's an incredibly kind and lovely person.

She is genuinely a good person.

It looks like someone who calls others eldergays would be young enough to be familiar with this thing called google.

She can't act worth shit, and even though she had enormous sex appeal she was a lousy lay.

Oh and she fell off a raised staged in Vegas (or someplace like that) during a show, so she's also a clumsy cunt.

I'm FFing R104 because A-M doesn't deserve that shit, and because I'm cranky about the hearings yesterday.

I can support that, R105. R104 was unsuccessfully bitchy although she did achieve pointlessness.

I loved her in the "Bye Bye Birdie" dance scene, in the teen hangout.. with Conrad Birdie. She wore pink, and her top was what we called, a rib tickler. It was also known as the Bye Bye Birdie top.

I know... silly ^^^^^

Love her but her autobiography was dull, dull, dull. I'm not sure even J. Randy Tarabarelli could make her fascinating. It was all image, not much there (but a nice lady by all accounts).

Bye Bye Birdie....rent it to find out her appeal.

After that she was the go-to girl for the grown up fans of Annette Funicello.

In some profile I read years ago, Ann-Margret was described as an early patient of fertility specialists, back in the 60s, before it was common. She tried various methods to improve her chances of conceiving but without luck.